Saab 9-4X review

It is the best of times and the worst of times for struggling Swedish automaker Saab. Ongoing financial problems have led to a supplier boycott of Saab’s headquarters plant in Trollhattan – a major disappointment considering the maker is in the midst of launching the broadest product offensive in its six-decade history.

An attractive basic exterior design features Saab’s familar rounded front-end and angular grille, as well as a sloping, swept-back roofline that mirrors that of the maker’s 9-5. The interior is equally true to Saab’s roots, down to the green-on-black gauges in the five-passenger interior.

Saab’s 9-4X range will open up in North America with an entry-level normally aspirated 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine that produces 262bhp and 223lb ft of torque. Higher up in the range is the turbocharged 2.8-litre V6 Aero version, which we drove – and which will be the only version of the car offered in Europe. As things stand, there will be no turbodiesel version.

The Aero’s twin-scroll turbocharger responds without lag or torque steer. At peak, the Aero makes 296bhp and 295lb ft, channeled through Saab’s Cross-Wheel-Drive, or XWD, system. That torque-vectoring system not only shifts power front to rear, but juggles it between the 9-4X’s left and right rear wheels, to help guide you through corners.

A programmable drive system called DriveSense controls a number of adaptive chassis systems in the 9-4X, from suspension damping to steering feel, allowing the driver to tailor its on-road behaviour. An auto-adaptive version will be added for 2012.

Saab has a variety of problems to deal with, but on this evidence it’s got the new 9-4X largely right. If the Swedes survive what’s proving to be a troubling period in its history to actually launch the 9-4X in Europe later this year, it should provide a worthy alternative for those who can live without a default-choice diesel engine, and who don’t want just another ‘me-too’ crossover. It won’t save the company, but the 9-4X is a commendable enough car all the same.